The 42nd Hunger Games
by Cooba
Summary: Jessica Spinder is a fifteen year old girl from district 11, who's name got pulled out of the reaping ball. As she fights for her life, her anger for the capitol growing, she manages to do the unthinkable. But will she survive long enough to tell the tale?
1. Chapter 1

I stood on the silver platform as the glass began to close between me and my stylist, Ember. I swallowed the lump that had been growing in my neck. Or, I tried to. It wouldn't go away. I was honestly terrified. There was a good chance I would die in the next few minutes.

My name is Jessica Spinder, and I'm 15 years old, from district 11. When my name was called on the day of the reaping, I was half relieved to finally be getting out of the hell hole we call district 11, and half really wanted someone else to volunteer, so I wouldn't have to compete. Who was I kidding? I was 99 percent hoping someone would volunteer, 1 percent glad to get out.

Why would I want to leave my family? I had a father and two little brothers. My brothers are Phillip and Roger. Phillip is 9, and Roger is 7. Mom died when I was 10, because we didn't have enough food for all of us. She gave most of her food to us, and starved to death.

As it was, we were barely scraping by. When the Harvest comes along, we don't feast like the rest of the families. We're at home packing up food for the year.

I, of course, signed up for tesserae when I turned 12, so I had my name entered four times in my first year. This year, my name was in 16 times.

I was tall enough, around about six feet. Obviously, I was stick thin, but that was because of lack of food. I had light brown skin, with poofy black hair that was pulled back in as controlled a pony tail as it could be.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The platform was sliding up. For a moment, I was lost in complete darkness, before I rose above ground.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the fourty-second Hunger Games begin!"

Sixty seconds. That's all I have. I was still blinded by the bright sun, so I used my other senses for the time being.

It was pounding hot, and dry. Really dry. I could smell dust.

By then, my eyesight had come back. I was in a canyon. There were cliff faces on either side of me. Glancing back, I could see the only two ways in and out of the crevice was straight forward and right behind me. In between me and the opening in front of me was the Cornucopia, with weapons, shelter, food, and canteens full of water in plain sight. The goodies got fewer and fewer, and worse and worse the further out you were. A few feet from me was a blowgun, a pouch full of darts, a simple medicine kit, and a bag of whatever else.

I made a split second decision. I would grab that small pile. No more, no less. Then, I would turn and run like hell toward the opening behind me.

I made the decision just in time, too, because the clock was down to four seconds left.

I positioned my feet for running, against my better judgement, toward the Cornucopia.

_3_

I took a deep breath and held it.

_2_

I leaned forward, getting ready to run.

_1_

I released the breath I had been holding.

_Bong!_


	2. Chapter 2

I took off running toward the pile of supplies. I got to them, scooped them up, and turned with as much agility as I could and started sprinting toward the opening behind me. I pumped my legs, faster than I ever had before. I guess it was the adrenaline. I got to the opening, and around a twist in the bend.

That was how far I made it. I slowed down; that was my fatal mistake.

I was tackled from behind by a body that felt like a tree. We started wrestling, each of us trying to get the upper hand. I was working on pure adrenaline. He was on top of me, with his hands around my neck, and just as I was about to lose consciousness, he suddenly went limp.

I didn't miss a beat and threw him off me. I ignored the blood and yanked the knife out of his head. I would be needing this.

I scooped up the supplies I'd dropped, trying to get my head together again, and ran.

Ok, so by now you have to be wondering why I slowed down. I wasn't tired or anything. No, I slowed down because I was faced with a big, red, dusty, cacti filled field. On the other side was a simmering green line all across the horizon. I'm guessing that's where people like me would find shelter.

Now, I didn't hesitate. I ran as fast as I can, avoiding cacti when I could, toward the green line.

It turned out to be a lot farther than I thought. I don't consider myself to be out of shape, but I had to stop to walk more than once. I wasn't stupid about it this time. I looked back to see if there was anyone behind me. There was, but they were people like me who were running for their lives. Not to mention they were really far back. I was in better shape than I thought. Or, at very least, they were in worst shape.

Soon, but later than I would have liked, I was at the tree line. I guess I shouldn't say that. It was more like, tree here, tree there, getting more and more dense as I kept going. I didn't slow, the trees giving me modivation to keep going.

Pretty soon, I was in a full out forest. The sand was replaced with dirt, and the cacti with brush. I felt more comfortable than I was out in the open, but this was still unfamiliar. I was used to trees planted in neat rows, with colorful fruits growing from them.

I kept running, slowing down the pace a little, now that no one could see me as easy as they could out in the open. You know, everyone exept the millions of people watching me right now, through the hidden cameras.

After a few hours of going between jogging and walking, I felt good enough to stop and look to see what was in my bag.

First, I looked to see how many darts I had. 24. They all looked to be able to eject some sort of poison when shot. Cool. I could use that. In the bag, I found a loaf of bread, and a canteen of full of water. I limited myself and only got a mouthful of water. I went back to the backpack and was about to reach in, when I heard footsteps.

I froze, and when I gathered my thoughts, all I could think was '_Crap! I'm not killer! I won't be able to kill this person!'_

Once I got that thought out of my head, I grabbed my knife.

When I turned to the noise, I saw a figure. As it drew closer, I saw it was female.

She stopped when she spotted me slowly standing up. She didn't run. I didn't run. We both knew that the other saw us, so if the other was a killer, they were screwed if they ran.

She slowly reached for her belt... And pulled out a knife. Crap!

She slowly walked toward me. I didn't want to seem cowardly, so I held my ground. Being a coward was a big no-no. It drove away sponsers.

The knife got slippery in my plam, but I held it tighter. There was no way I was going to let it drop.

The girl got ten feet away and stopped. I realized she was the girl from district 12. I relaxed just a little, because most of the time people from 12 weren't killers. I could see now that she held the knife awkwardly. I grew confident and stood a little straighter. I feined a throw, and she flinched. I smiled just a little.

"I won't kill you if you don't kill me." She said in a shaky voice.

I admit, I almost laughed. It was just so ridiculous. I mean, I came up against the only person in this arena I could beat, and she said that like she could kill me. Then I thought about the fact I can't do this alone. She had a backpack of her own, and I could always use extra supplies. And who knows what she would be able to do. She obviously couldn't fight though.

Maybe she was thinking along the same lines. She couldn't fight, so she would be needing someone to protect her. And I had supplies of my own. Surely she could use them too.

District 12... They starve there. Surely, she knows something about what to eat and what not to eat. We only get the food they give us, no more, no less. We can't even scavenge for food, the security is so tight.

Yes, I think we could use each other. If it comes to it, I feel confident I could overpower her and even kill her, if I had to.

After going through this thinking process, and add a little more time, just to make her sweat, I say, "Deal."

I thrust my knife into my belt. I feel confident I can pull it out in a moments notice if she tries anything cute.

She smiles and draws closer to me.

"Does this mean we're allies now?" She asks.

"Yes, I think it does." I respond.

Her smile vaporizes when she looks at the end of the knife the protrudes from the bottom of my belt.

I almost laugh again when I realize I still have the guys dried blood on it.


End file.
